Obama learned of Specter switch this morning
Program Note: For more on Sen. Arlen Spector's party switch, tune in to AC360° tonight at 10 p.m. ET.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/04/28/art.obamaspecter.wh.jpg caption="Obama speaks to Specter in a photo released by the White House Tuesday."]
Ed Henry
Senior White House Correspondent
The first President Obama heard of Arlen Specter's party switch was at 10:25 am Tuesday in the Oval Office when he was handed a note by a staffer, according to a senior administration official.
The official told CNN Obama was in the middle of his daily economic briefing and was given a note that said simply, "Specter is announcing he's switching parties."
A few minutes later after his meeting wrapped up, the official said, Obama called Specter and said, "You have my full support, and we're thrilled to have you" in the Democratic Party.
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Filed under: 360° Radar • President Barack Obama • Raw Politics |
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I thought Obama knew when Specter flew. Get ready for a rumble in 2010
I agree with Susan and Lynda.
Good riddance Senator Spector. Personally, I hope more jump ship so we get back to being the Grand Old Party!
I was in high school when JFK was killed, a Pol. Sci. major in student government. So I have studied Sen. Specter under a microscope for a long time. He was the deal maker for the investigation. There was no internet back then so DC was not like today, where information is available.
If there was a joker in the deck this is he. Some times you must get rid of dead wood. Some times it just rotts away and falls into the trash.
...Bush and Cheney, sitting in the Situation Room with the national security advisers... Before the US invades Iraq.... "We will call it shock and awe".... Same thought process for Senator Spector switching from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party... Shock and awe... Is it over yet?
Spector, however made the right decision to switch t leave Republican party. Just one more vote mean one more change. "I mean 60 votes go all the way".
Hmmm..don't know what to think of Senator Specters party switch. I think I smell a RAT. I'm thinking that the senator is seeing how strong and united the Democratic party has become under the leadership of President Obama. Is he looking for a FREE RIDE???
Specter started his political life as a Democrat He worked with the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of John F. Kennedy during this time.
He eventually became a Republican and scored an upset by winning a race for District Attorney in heavily Democratic Philadelphia, running on an anti-corruption platform against the Democratic machine.
Now he is a Democrat again – he has come full circle. He has been allied more closely with the Democrats in recent years than the GOP. The 2010 race for him should be quite interesting. The good people of his district may not care which party he is in as much as they like his stand on the issues.
Good to see
It appears that Senator Specter has joined the ranks of many a politician that cares more about winning then representing us.
Spector, seems to forget that it was The Republican Party, that won him his seat in the first place and kept him there for 28 years, now he is willing to turn his back on them when he feels he might not win again. Sounds like the same-ole Political Game to me.
Actually it makes no differance one way or the other...they (politicians)seem to be pretty much the same these days. Republican ,Democrat, Independant..self serving egotists who care absolutely nothing about the people they serve(kind of an oxymoron: politician:serve)....never mind the one little fact that THE PEOPLE thought they were electing a Republican....it should be against the rules to switch parties in the middle of a term...what a slap in the face!
Hmm... political "conversionist," or operative? Although there's too many political conspiracy theories on a variety of topics, time will tell. Still, it's not exactly a case of Benedict Arnold.
Well, Arlen will not have to worry about campaign finances.
This looks like part of the big political realignment that's been going on for years now, like in the 1850s or 1930s. The Republicans have pretty much lost the North by appealing too heavily to the Southern base, while the West is still split between the two parties, as it usually is. It's very hard to keep North and South in the same party, though. FDR managed it for a while, and so did Reagan, but for most of US history, we have had a party of the North and a party of the South–with the South always playing the conservative role, lagging behind the North 50-100 years in in many ways.
For whatever reason Senator Spector switched parties, I’m grateful.
I liked him as a Republican, I’ll love him as a Democrat.